The Rug

For nine years we lived in this beautiful house I called the Dirt Road Dream House. I loved it. It was going to be my forever home. That was before we had 5 kids. The three bedrooms and two bathrooms started to feel cramped and we were slowly but surely growing on top of each other. So, we finally decided to leave my forever home and went in search of a new forever home.

We found our new forever home (or at least I hope it is) late last year. It is huge. It is extravagant. It was abandoned. It needed a ton of work. We managed to buy it affordably. We sunk all our money, time, and patience into it and our reward is that we now have a huge beautiful home. Great for our slightly larger than the typical American family. Space for now and as the kids age. Space for our sanity and space as the kids have myriads of friends in and out of here.

In our den, we have this large oriental rug. I have no clue if it is antique and I doubt it has much value, but it was in my mother in laws living room for at least 20 years. It is heavy, warm, but vibrant.

It is also worn and a bit tattered. It has a lot of thread bare spots. It has areas that are faded. My husband has suggested a few times that maybe we should put down a different rug. We have others that could replace it. Nicer, less worn, just as beautiful rugs. Or we could buy another that looks just like it. It isn’t a unique pattern or really anything special.

I understand the thought process behind putting down a different rug. We have this huge beautiful newly remodeled home and yet our den rug is worn and tattered. I can see the oddity of that, and how others would find it strange to hold onto something that really doesn’t have any value or even sentimentality to it. It was my mother in laws, but she was going through an eBay rug phase for a while and she probably bought it there.

Yet, as I scooped and vacuumed an entire box of Captain Crunch (my smallest children have a thing for dumping cereal on the floor and eating it) off of the floor this morning, I couldn’t help admire the rug. It is much like me. It is vibrant and bright, a little worn and tired, warm and soft, and maybe that is why I love it. It reminds me that in my beautiful new surroundings, I don’t have to be anyone else. I can still be just me. There will still be those that find that beautiful, even if I am little odd and tattered.